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The Starwife (The Deptford Mice)
Audrey redirects here. For the mouse, see Audrey Scuttle "Summat's not quite normal 'bout her, you know, she's got an other world quality - serene in peace, frightenin' in a temper; very like the sea in some ways. Rules those squirrel colonies with an iron rod." ―Thomas, about the Starwife Audrey was the Starwife during the events of The Dark Portal, The Crystal Prison and most of The Final Reckoning. Her name was not revealed until her encounter with Bauchan right before her death, and coincidentally, it was the same as that of her successor. Appearance In her youth the Starwife was a pretty black squirrel maiden, but with age her fur had turned grey and become patchy. For this reason, she was easily mistaken for a grey squirrel later in life. Background Born with the name Audrey, she decided to take up the Starwifeship during a time when a battle was raging in Greenwich. On that night, she raced up the hill to the safety of the Oaken Throne. The Starwife was known for having a temper and sometimes being rude, but her intentions were always good and she was quite venerable and respectable. She was a wily creature who had a way of manipulating others to do her bidding. Role in The Deptford Mice trilogy The Starwife summoned Audrey Brown to her realm to hear in detail the story of how the mouse had defeated Jupiter. That wasn't the only reason, though, as she also intended to strike a bargain with Audrey, making her take Madame Akkikuyu to the country in exchange for a bag of magic that would cure the deathly ill Oswald Chitter. She enforced the deal by warning Audrey that if she tried to back out of it, Oswald would become sick once again. During the time when the spirit of Jupiter smothered the world in eternal winter, he attacked the Starwife's realm in Greenwich Park, stealing her Starglass and murdering many of her subjects. After overseeing a funeral ceremony and telling the other survivors to leave on their own, the Starwife told Thomas Triton to take her to Deptford. She desired an audience with the bats, as without the Starglass she was powerless to see what the future held. Disheartened to learn that the bats had fled the attic, the Starwife decided to start a beacon fire in hopes of summoning them. It at first seemed a fruitless effort until Orfeo and Eldritch arrived. However, they only mocked her before informing her that their kind were holding a meeting at St. Paul's Cathedral. The Starwife wished to attend, but the two bats refused her and revealed their intentions of bringing Oswald there instead. Outraged, the Starwife couldn't believe that they would prefer the weak albino's company to hers. The Starwife would often speak with Audrey in her time at the empty house in Deptford, and with no surviving black squirrels around, she decided that the mouse would be the best candidate to succeed her. She reluctantly agreed to heal Thomas Triton, who had been wounded by an ice spear, if Audrey would help her in casting the spell to do so. What the mouse didn't know was that the Starwife was also performing the ritual to transfer her powers over to her. Audrey was furious when she found out that she was the new Starwife whether she liked it or not, but her predecessor didn't care, calmly telling her that she had no choice in the matter. After this, the Starwife went outside into the cold, snow-covered yard and died with a smile on her face. Her body was later burned in a pyre as she had previously requested, and Audrey found a snowdrop flower among the ashes. She would use this to defeat Jupiter once and for all. In the end, Audrey gained respect for the old Starwife and accepted her position. Trivia * Although it is easy to suppose that she is Ysabelle from the prequel book ''The Oaken Throne ''(in spite of the two squirrels having different given names), according to Robin Jarvis this is in fact not the case. He has explained that there were a few other Starwives since Ysabelle. Gallery Starwife.jpg TheBargain.jpg TheBeaconFire.jpg Starwifeenthronedtrailer.png Starwife (The Deptford Mice), The Starwife (The Deptford Mice), The Category:Protagonists Category:The Crystal Prison characters Category:The Final Reckoning characters Category:Black squirrels Category:Deceased characters